Minutes of Your Time
by vanillalovescnjonghyun
Summary: I fell in love with a woman, without first knowing who she was, where she works at. [SanoMegumi].
1. Chapter 1

Prologue:

I fell in love with a woman without first knowing who she is, where she works at.

I saw her glide away in her dazzling purple kimono, her hair dancing in the wind as she treaded the road under the early morning sun. Her hair was tied beautifully in a bun on top of her head, shiny ornaments dangling in place.

I think I stopped dead in my tracks because my friend, Takeshi, nudged me with his elbow. "Hey, Sano, what's with the stare?"

I jerked my body away from him and gave him a light hit on the head. "What stare? I was just looking!"

I returned my gaze to the celestial beauty crossing the bridge by now. "Who is she anyway?"

Takeshi shrugged. "I don't know. Another pretty face, I suppose."

My friend and I continued on into the bar.

* * *

I.

Sagara Sanosuke never had any personal romantic feelings he felt for anyone of the women he flirted with, or if there were any, he never admitted them. He was a street-fighter-for-hire, and he liked to think that he was tough.

Takani Megumi on the other hand, liked displaying coquetry in public, though with some reservation. No, 'like' wasn't quite the right word for it: she was forced to do it, in order to get cash flowing. Yes, she dated men for a living.

Heck, call it prostitution. Whatever. She needed money, and with such striking beauty, there was easier way to earn it than selling her body.

And what was her job today? Oh, right. The Akebeko bar.

She walked gracefully, trying to get as much attention and admiration as possible, for that meant more money, more food on the table tomorrow. She got what she wanted, for every man in the street strained their necks to look at her.

She caught sight of one particular man, tall and lean but strongly built, with dark hair framing his head. He wore white clothes and a single red cloth tied around his head. She smiled.

"Excuse me, misters, do you know a Doctor Uriyama?" she said in flirtatious tone, approaching him and his companion.

She noticed the young man in white purse his lips. His companion answered for the two of them. "No, miss, sorry. But we can help you find him, if you want."

The beautiful woman eyed the young man's companion, and, concluded he had not the money that could afford even her slightest conversation, wrinkled her nose and left.

"What an arrogant woman!" Sano, the young man in white, growled.

His companion Takeshi nodded. "But very pretty. Heavenly beautiful."

Sano frowned. "I have no time to waste over an ambitious woman."

Despite his ill words, he watched the woman enter the Akebeko bar, her nose still wrinkled in disgust. _Aha,_ Takeshi noted mentally, _Sano likes her, too._

Tae of the Akebeko bar greeted the pretty woman with a smile of mixed admiration and contempt. She led her to the table of a certain old man, dressed rather importantly, and looking rather smug.

The pretty woman approached him and asked, "Are you Doctor Uriyama?"

The man nodded with a lustful look in his eyes. The pretty woman bent down a little and whispered something in the old man's ear. The man nodded again and brought something out of his pocket.

Tae walked over to Sano and Takeshi, and offered them a table across the pretty woman and the important man. "What do will you have for today, Sano?"

Again, Takeshi answered for him. "Just the usual, Tae."

Sano frowned. "No, give me one of your stronger drinks."

Tae's brows furrowed. "But it's very early in the morning, Sano!"

Sano did not reply but fixed his gaze on the pretty woman instead. Tae noticed the gesture.

"I see you're taken with Megumi as well. She's a very pretty woman, but I must warn you about something. She isn't your ordinary woman."

With this, Tae meant Megumi's not-so-ordinary profession, but Sano took it some other way.

"Yeah, I figured that."

_She's a very arrogant woman, _he thought.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

Minutes of Your Time

* * *

II.

Now what would a typical afternoon in Japan be like? Well, during spring time, as it would now be, the image of pretty _sakura _trees shedding flowers and the sound of bamboo studs hitting each other while pouring water in a garden. The sound of wooden slippers clucking on the bare ground and the splashing of river water can be heard, and it's a very soothing day indeed.

While all of these natural phenomena happen our rather feisty hero Sagara Sanosuke dozes off in one of the places he claims to be his least favorite but means the opposite, the Kamiya Dojo. He is woken up by the sound of hurrying wooden slippers and men laughing gruffly. He stood up.

He noticed Kaoru and Yahiko by the gate. "What's with the noise, eh?" he asked.

Kaoru turned to face him anxiously. She placed a hand over her swelling belly, stroking it lightly. It's been only six months since Kaoru learned she was pregnant with hers and Kenshin's second child. One year old Kenji was inside the house, sleeping.

"Some drunken men are chasing after a beautiful woman," she explained.

Sanosuke scowled._Again? Those drunkards never learn, honestly. _"Where did the bastards go?" he growled.

"That way," Kaoru pointed at an empty alley. Sano nodded. "You coming, half-pint?" he turned to Yahiko. The latter frowned. "Stop calling me that!" They ran into the alley Kaoru pointed at.

Kaoru, meanwhile, swept the stray bangs on her pale forehead away from her face and slowly made her way back to the Dojo. She slid open the door to Kenji's room and settled at the foot of her sleeping son.

_When's your father coming back? _she muttered. She sighed. In three months, she'll have another mouth to feed, another being to nurse, another child to caress. Yet her husband was still nowhere in sight. They had fought over him not coming home one night, and she had sent him away on impulse, not expecting him to take it so very seriously. Perhaps he was hiding at the cabin of his former master Seijiro Hiko. He'll come home soon.

She fanned herself with the long sleeves of her kimono and looked up at the sky. The wind chime sounded softly throughout the room.

_Please come home soon, Kenshin._

Sano and 'half-pint' followed the sound of the wooden slippers and the laughing, until they reached a dead end, where they found the perpetrators of the noise.

A young woman in colorful kimono was standing inside a circle of drunkards who held knives to her throat. The young woman was very beautiful, and by no means afraid of the men's gesture.

"Alright, miss," said one of the drunkards, "don't you realize it will be better for you to spend the afternoon with us? That way, we'll think about sparing you your life."

The young woman flickered her eyes and smirked. "My mere conversation costs a wealthy man every dime in his wallet and a poor man his land. If you want to spend an afternoon with me, you better sell all your belongings."

The men were angered. "Are you saying that we aren't good enough for your standards?"

The woman did not speak but merely broadened her haughty smile.

"Why you filthy b –"

Sano couldn't take any longer. He hit one of the men with his elbow. "The noise you are making makes my ears hurt, you ass," he retorted. "You woke me up. Too bad."

"And who could you possibly be?" said one of the men. "This is none of your business! Stay out of this, chicken head!"

Sano narrowed his eyes. "Did you just call me chicken head?"

Yahiko sighed and shook his head. _You shouldn't have called him that. Now, you're lost. _

Yahiko approached the young woman they were saving and noticed that she was very pretty. No wonder those drunkards wanted her. "Are you alright? Did they hurt you?" he asked.

The young woman eyed him with some sort of contempt at his dirty clothes and wrinkled her nose.

_What an arrogant woman! _Yahiko thought. _We had just saved her!_

When no one of the drunkards appeared to be standing any longer, Sano walked over to Yahiko and the woman. He recognized the woman's face. _I must've seen her somewhere._

The woman fixed her eyes on him.

"Ah!" Sano exclaimed. "I know you! You're that ambitious Megumi woman. Is that correct?"

Megumi jerked her eyes away. "Funny, for a man like you to know my name. I thought I had very exclusive acquaintances."

Sano frowned. "Is that the way you repay the person who saved you? I could charge you a fortune, you know."

"Sano's a fighter for fire," Yahiko piped in. He really was starting to hate this woman.

"Fighter for hire, eh?" Megumi muttered, covering her nose with the sleeve of her kimono. "No wonder you smell of filthy blood."

Sano's frown deepened. "You know, I'm really starting to regret saving you. Maybe you deserved to be picked on by those drunkards."

Megumi sneered. "Alright, how much?" She fumbled for a purse in her obi.

Sano raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry? What did you just say?"

"I said, 'How much?' Come on, I don't have much time, mister."

Sano let out a laugh. "You can keep your money, lady. I don't accept money from ambitious women."

Sano motioned for Yahiko and him to go. "You know, I thought pretty women ought to be saved from those who want to harass them. Now I learned that some men harass them for obvious reasons – stinking attitude. You don't deserve the fame of a pretty face."

Megumi watched as the two men walked away and left her in the empty alley. _He's different, _she thought. _But he still can't afford me._

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

Minutes of Your Time

* * *

III.

The rumor that Himura Kenshin was having an affair with Zubashi Momo of Gion spread like fire throughout Kyoto. How they kept such long distance liaison (most people believed that Kenshin was in his master's cabin in the mountains), no one knew in whole honesty, but the gossipers speculated that Momo-san was a part of Kenshin's past – Battousai.

Zubashi Momo was called the Doll of Gion, with her pale porcelain skin, soft brown hair, red lips and perfect almond-shaped eyes. She was many years short of Kenshin's age and was the most popular geisha in Gion.

Sanosuke, who had had enough of love affairs already, decided to ask Kaoru, who refused to talk about it.

"I don't know, Sano," she said, pretending to be busy preparing lunch for her son. "Honestly, you are distressing me with all these questioning."

Sano gritted his teeth. "You don't know? Kaoru, how could you be so stubborn about this? You must know something."

"I'm sorry, Sano, but I really don't know. Would you like to stay for lunch?"

Sano closed his eyes and pointed at the open door. "Look, Kaoru, that Kenshin's gone again. Don't you care that your husband might be replacing you with a geisha woman?"

"Sano, please stop!" the wife exclaimed. Kenji, her son, who had then been playing with Yahiko in the front yard, stopped at the voice of his angered mother.

"Look, Sano, if Kenshin has another woman, what could I do about it? Momo-san is younger, prettier, richer. Let him desire her for as long as he wants!" Kaoru was still shaking but she tried to regain her composure. _Oh, Sano, I didn't tell you, it was my fault Kenshin left me, anyway._

"Now if you don't want to stay for lunch, you may leave."

Now if there was one thing besides obstinacy that Kaoru and Sanosuke had in common, it would have to be their habit of tolerating pain in silence. Both had been fooled by extraordinary women who sold their beauty for a living, and both chose to endure betrayal in silence.

Sano left, thinking to himself.

* * *

The servant girl bowed her head as she knelt in front of her stunning mistress.

"Will you get me some of those pickled plums Ohano-san brought me last night?" said the pale-faced mistress, her voice small and gentle. The servant girl was about fourteen, and her mistress, with her slightly cheeky face, seemed only a little older than she. The servant stood up.

"Hanabi, don't you find it amusing that the people of Kyoto actually think your mistress is having an affair with the ex-Battousai?"

The servant girl returned with a plate of luscious pickled plums. She handed it to her mistress.

"I think the people are starting to get suspicious, Momo-san. Battousai-san has been visiting you often lately, and he doesn't pay your regular _o-hana._ There are rumors that he and his wife aren't in good terms, too."

Momo-san picked up a pickled plum and put it inside her mouth, painting her lips a bright shade of purple. She smiled.

"Battousai-san doesn't pay my _o-hana _because he doesn't have to. Do you get what I mean, Hanabi?" The servant girl nodded.

"Battousai-san comes to me for a few minutes of conversation only." The mistress stopped suddenly. "Hanabi, please get the mirror for your mistress."

The servant left at once and returned with an oval jade-lined mirror half-wrapped in white cloth in her hands. She handed it to her mistress.

"If you'll let me speak, my mistress…"

"Yes, Hanabi, what is it?"

The servant girl swallowed. "I think Battousai-san desires my mistress…"

Momo-san gazed at her stunning reflection in the jade-lined mirror, a gift from one of her patrons, Saito-san, a general for the Meiji. The mistress smiled when she noticed how the purple color on her lips stood out from her pale porcelain face and white kimono. Her lips matched perfectly with the pink _sakura _blossom in her hair. She turned to the servant Hanabi.

"Go pick up some more pickled plums from Awaji-san's store."

The servant left at once, and forgot to close the door of her mistress' room.

_I must wear this color on my lips from now on, _the mistress told herself. _If it is true that Battousai-san desires me, then I must be prepared to give him more than my priced conversation. After all, when a man frequents a woman's house more than what is usual, it is foolish to think he is attracted merely to my conversation._

Momo-san stood up and slid the door to her room close.

* * *

o-hana - "Flower fee"; in geisha context, the fee paid for the time spent with a geisha depending on her popularity 


	4. Chapter 4

"Minutes of Your Time"

* * *

IV.

Sano recalled what had transpired the other night. He had seen Megumi creep into the compartment of an important man in the inn he happened to pass by on his way home. He thought he smelled something suspicious – after all, a woman of pride and arrogance like Megumi should deem it rather despicable to be going to an unimportant inn, found at an unimportant road, which as the road to Sano's apartment. Sano decided to spy, and when he did, a few hours later, he told himself he shouldn't have.

For the first hour of his espionage, he found that Megumi had started dancing with the important old man to the invisible music of the grass, trees and moonlight. Sano started to feel sick, and his mind started forming suspicions that Megumi was – was, well, that Megumi did the sort of job normal women didn't do. He scolded himself at being so nosy about this Megumi woman. _Must be his uncle, _he convinced himself.

Just as he was about to leave, the dancing stopped. His muscles tensed. Megumi sat down in front of the old man, and the rest, in Sano's head, seemed blurry and nauseating. He saw bare shoulders, white underclothes stained with – oh, he couldn't continue watching. He closed his eyes and held his breath. After a few minutes in this position, Sano finally stood up.

He started to walk away, and he heard jingling of coins behind him. There she was – the whore, the prostitute, the indecent woman whom he had just watched from an open window – fixing her kimono, putting a sort of money bag in her obi. She caught his eye.

"O-Oh," she muttered. She turned away. "You haven't been watching, have you?"

Sano snorted. "No, I couldn't take it. It made me sick. Let's just say I happened to learn your dirty job just now."

An embarrassed blush crept unto Megumi's cheeks. _Why am I ashamed?_ She thought._I've been doing this for a long time. This is what I am deemed to be. I shouldn't be ashamed because of a silly man!_

"Ha, what, lady, are you ashamed now?" Sano spat. "So this is the reason you're so proud and airy: you steal other people's husbands!"

Megumi colored some more. "This isn't your business. I earn money the way I want."

"Then do it. But don't expect me to come saving your neck the next time drunkards chase after you."

Sano left.

Megumi fell to her knees on the ground. Never had she felt more humiliated before! After all the futons she had laid down upon all these years, this was the first time she felt humiliated by a man who can't even afford her conversation. She must've fainted. Her vision blacked out.

The next day, Megumi found herself in her apartment. The sun had found his way to her cold cheeks. She sat up, and she felt dirty.

_Dirty. _Since when did that word come back to her vocabulary?

She stood up and told her servants to prepare for her bath. The servants hurried into the bath.

What had happened last night? She remembered having gone to an inn where Ojikuni-san, an old wrinkled businessman happened to book for the night.

Wait. Did she just think 'wrinkled'? This was bad! She never thought of her customers that way before. This was bad indeed.

She remembered that young man who called himself Sanosuke, but who seemed to her like a rooster who had grown arms and legs. She remembered having met him, too, last night, and they talked about her 'filth' of a job. Then she blacked out.

Black out. If she blacked out, how did she end up waking up in her house? This was bad… Her heart started thumping.

"Ayumi," she called to a servant. "Where did I go last night?"

Ayumi flashed his mistress a puzzled look. "At Ojikuni-san's, Megumi-san."

Megumi's heart beat even faster. "How did I get back here?"

A sort of pinkish blush crept into the servant's cheeks. "A tall man carried you home, mistress."

Tall man? Sanosuke?

She waved the servant aside. She plopped herself down on the bath.

This wasn't happening. First, she felt humiliated that the tall man had learned about her job. Then she woke up feeling dirty, and started calling one of her patrons 'wrinkled'. What was happening to her? This was her job! She sank lower into the warm bath.

_I don't think I'll go to work today. This isn't nice._

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

"Minutes of Your Time"

* * *

V.

"Zubashi Momo. Most popular geisha in Gion, eh?" Seijiro Hiko mumbled. The small fire crackled inside his small damp cabin, illuminating the cols severe lines in his face.

_That student of mine… really foolish, he is._

"Teacher, I'm home."

The red-haired student in his plain gray peasant clothes entered the cabin, a wooden pail in his hands, water spilling from the slits in the container. Kenshin placed the pail in a barrel beside the window.

"This isn't your home, you fool," Seijiro spat. "Your home is in the Kamiya Dojo. You are a man, for Buddha's sake, Kenshin, and a true man doesn't run away from his wife when they fight!"

Kenshin lowered his gaze. "It wasn't the fight I left of. I don't think I deserve such a happy family."

Seijiro Hiko snorted. "Yes, yet you deserve Zubashi Momo."

Kenshin settled himself near the fire. He warmed his hands.

The older man stood up. "I'm going out for a while. I need to pick another crate of sake."

"You have been my most intelligent student, Kenshin, but with the way you're acting right now, I'm starting to think you need to re-learn all the things I taught you about life. Stay here until you have re-learned what you need to, then you must come home to your wife."

"_Hai, sensei."_

Seijiro grunted. Then he left.

* * *

The Akebeko was full that night. People from all walks of life were there – weary travelers who made a pilgrim of some sort, pretty women and their important spouses, young men and their games of _go_, drunkards who had nothing to do or were just tired of roaming the streets. Tae looked really bewildered at such a crowd, but at the same time, she was pleased.

She passed by a young man and woman's table, staggering under the weight of the plate in her hands.

"So, I thought you weren't going to save my neck after last night. How come I woke up in my apartment this morning?"

Sano shrugged. "What did you expect me to do? Leave a pathetic b--, I mean, woman, in the cold street where a lot of vagabonds lurk around at night?"

Megumi flickered her eyes. "Didn't you say you were a street fighter-for-hire? Well, aren't that what those in your profession do?"

"You could have at least said thank you," Sano muttered. "Annoying _kitsune."_

Megumi raised an eyebrow. "What was that? What did you say?"

"I said, you're an annoying _kitsune. _Fox."

The woman let out a small cry. "_Kitsune, _eh? Well, some nerve you got there, you're a chicken head yourself."

Tae cut their little conversation short. She put down a bottle of sake and a cup of tea on their table.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself, Sano," Tae said with a smile.

"Enjoy? How could anyone enjoy a night in this place?" Megumi muttered. Tae's smile was replaced by a sad look in her eyes.

"Hey, watch your mouth, _kitsune_," Sano retorted. "Tae works hard for this bar."

"Well," Megumi said, "I don't know anyone who does not work hard."

Sano frowned. "Don't you really know how to ask for forgiveness when you've offended someone? It's very simple: _I'm sorry_."

Megumi turned her head away. _I'm a proud woman. Men bow down to me, not I to them._

As soon as Tae was out of earshot, Sano moved closer to his woman companion and said in an embarrassed whisper, "How long have you been in that profession?"

"Excuse me?" Megumi said suddenly. Sano turned away, blushing slightly.

"Well, I've been in street fighting business for as long as I want to remember."

Megumi placed her hands around her tea cup, a sad look in her stunning eyes. "I guess my case is quite the same. I've been in this – well, _profession –_for as long as I _don't _want to remember."

"Ah, so you don't really want to be involved in that kind of job. Why don't you quit?"

_This man…_

Megumi's face became stern again. "Why are you talking to me like this?"

Sano looked her directly in the eye. A warm tickling sensation crawled up into her body and down to her hands.

_How can he do this by just looking? _

"Because I don't want you involved in that hideous business. I know I am not in the position to say this to you, because I don't know your whole story (I'm sure that's what you're thinking) – " at this Megumi's body jolted in surprise, and she wasn't sure if Sano noticed, but if he did, he didn't seem to mind – "but I think you don't deserve a life like that; you're a very promising woman, with wit and beauty like yours, and you should be doing something more purposeful."

Megumi, her overpowering vanity aside, was really moved by his words. No one - not even the grandest general to the lowliest peasant she had slept with the past few years , not anyone – no one of these men had ever said such poignant yet truthful words to her. Had she been a weaker woman than what she is as of that moment, she would have cried and poured out her heart to him, but her strength and pride had her to push her tears aside.

_He's really different. He wants me to change!_

"Chicken head, how come you're saying this?"

Sano scratched his head childishly, a little blush creeping into his cheeks. "Well, I guess I see myself in you. I was like you before, you know, I tried to convince myself I didn't deserve to live a life of happiness, so I became a gangster, and spent most of my life like a waste. But then, this old self of mine, Zanza, vanished, when I met friends who showed me I was capable of change, and I deserved it."

Megumi didn't think there was such depth in his story, although the moment she laid eyes on him she knew he was different. She had repeated it to herself many times, but she never tired of convincing herself, because she knew it was true.

"And so… you're offering this change to me?"

Sano nodded. "Yes. I was like you before, and I want you to experience the change my friends brought to me."

Megumi was silent.

_Perhaps she's thinking how silly and strange this man before her is, _Sano thought. _We weren't really that familiar with each other, but here I am opening up my life to and offering her change! How peculiar, and how unlikely of me, indeed._

After a very awkward silence, Megumi smiled.

"Chicken head, do you know a good doctor?"

Sano furrowed his brows. "Yes. Why, are you sick?"

"No. I want you to introduce me to this doctor."

Sano's frown deepened. "Hey, are you asking me to get you a – a _customer –_or something?"

"No," Megumi said, trying to hide her amusement. She looked at the graying sky outside the bar, then back at Sano. "You know, we've been talking for about half an hour. Normally, I would have charged ¥ 1000 to my customers –"

"¥ 1000!" Sano gasped. "That's more than what I earn in a year!"

Megumi smirked. _See how proud I am? _"Well, since you offered me change, I won't charge you that much –" at this Sano let out a sigh of relief, but his brows shot up again when Megumi continued her speech – "but your payment will be to introduce me to this doctor friend of yours."

"What for?"

"Well," Megumi said, blushing slightly, "I had always wanted to be a doctor, even when I was a child."

"Oh."

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

"Minutes of Your Time"

* * *

VI. 

"Why did you come to me, Sword Master?

It really fascinates me, at the same time scares me, that the famed and feared Seijiro Hiko has come to my humble abode in Gion. I don't suppose Battousai-san sent you?"

The gray silhouettes - one of a large muscular man, the other of a leaner, relatively smaller young woman – swayed in the dance of the leaves of the trees in a particularly quiet backyard in a neighbourbood in Kyoto, a district more popularly known as Gion. The smaller shadow faced the small pond while holding a seemingly young and immature bloom, while the larger figure of a man stood motionless in the opposite direction, his cape swirling in the wind, as if not intending to look into the face of his woman companion.

"No. Kenshin – or Battousai-san, as you stubbornly prefer to call him, although he must've told you multiple times he has abandoned that life – has no business more to do with you."

Seijiro Hiko frowned at the young and vibrant geisha (or _geiko_, as any one of her kind in Gion proudly referred to herself, meaning 'woman of art'), and he admittedly told himself that anyone, including he and his student Kenshin, would no doubt fall for the trap of her beauty.

"Such strong words you're using, Master Hiko," the _geiko_ spoke softly, pressing the flower she was holding closer to her lips. "What do you mean, 'no business'?"

Hiko snorted. _You're not fooling me with your doll act. _"I mean, Kenshin is a married man (twice, if you consider his past) and he is father to a child, and soon he will be to a second. You must stay away from him."

"You threaten me by your words, Master Hiko, but I really cannot do anything about your request. Battousai-san comes to me out of his own accord, and, as a licensed and practicing _geiko_ of Gion, it is my duty to accommodate him, as a man and as a friend."

"A friend?" _Since when did that foolish student of mine make friends with a geisha?_

"Yes, a friend."

The young woman had now turned her face to look at the swordsman, her painted lips pursed in determination. Seijiro Hiko saw the genuineness in the lady's blue eyes.

The geisha broke the connection with a smile.

"You know, Master Hiko, I think you and I – including Battousai-san – and our professions, we have all suffered the same fate. For centuries, people have looked up to our profession. Now, at the sudden irony of things, we have been pushed aside into oblivion, or worse into misunderstanding – you, the samurai, who have been revered for your valor and honor, are now equated with rebellion and delinquency, and we, the _geiko_, who have been admired for our beauty and talent, are now confused with mere prostitutes, who exchange their allure for money. Such very contradictory turn of things, don't you think?"

Seijiro Hiko let a small smile pass his lips. "I see my student wasn't just attracted to your beauty, he was enticed by your wisdom."

The _geiko_ gave him a warm smile.

"But that doesn't undo the fact that he's a married man with a wife and two children."

_That's the saddest part about being a geiko. No matter how lovely people think you are, you can never be loved completely, nor can you love freely without suffering immensely painful consequences._

"I must get going."

The geiko bowed politely to the large swordsman before her, with all reverence for his battling skills and his concern for his student.

"_Sayonara, _Master._ Matte yo."_

* * *

_ matte yo - we'll see each other again _


	7. Chapter 7

"Minutes of Your Time"

* * *

VII.

The sun was setting, and Sano was sweating profusely. He had been chopping wood for Doctor Gensai for almost an hour now, and his muscles were aching badly. The wind had not blown his way since the moment he had laid his axe on the first piece of wood, and his body had grown used to the heat and the pain. A rather anxious-looking Kaoru came up to him, a hand on her round belly.

"Sano, you must take a rest, don't you think?" she said, handing him a towel.

Sano smiled, taking the towel from the hands of his friend, and wiping the sweat across his shining forehead. He placed a hand on Kaoru's belly, and Kaoru smiled.

"You make a good uncle for my child," Kaoru said softly.

Sano wanted to say,_Your child does not need a good uncle, for he will find plenty of them in every part of the world. That child needs a good father, for he'll only have one his entire lifetime, _but chose to end the conversation with simple words of thanks.

Sano lifted the chopped woods on his shoulder, and walked alongside Kaoru back into the house, where Doctor Gensai and Megumi sat on either side of a wounded patient, the former stitching the bleeding man's wounds. Megumi watched intently, sure to take in every detail, in the hopes of one day doing the same in a clinic of her own.

Kaoru winced when she saw the blood on the sheets and on the wooden floor. Since her latest pregnancy, the lady had taken a particular disgust in seeing blood in any form or manner, and Sano advised her to continue on into the next room to ease her odium. Kaoru, more than grateful for the advice, obliged.

"Doctor Gensai, here's the wood you asked for," Sano spoke, breaking the silence and tension inside the warm room, where a fire crackled in the fireplace nearby. Doctor Gensai did not give any reply to Sano, instead, told Megumi to make a certain concoction outside, using the wood Sano had chopped for putting up a fire. Megumi nodded and briskly walked to the door.

Sano was about to follow her, when Doctor Gensai looked up at him with a gentle smile, saying, "What an intelligent friend you have right there, Sanosuke. Tell me, had she had any formal learning in the past? She possesses a surprising amount of potential."

"I don't suppose I know," Sano said. He didn't think it was a prudent answer to give, but his weary muscles seemed to have taken over his brain, and he gave in to his irritation at any possible conversation at that moment. Doctor Gensai didn't seem to mind, though, he merely smiled and went back to his patient.

"Sanosuke, are you coming?" Megumi called. "Or do I have to chop wood for myself?"

Sano grunted and followed the lady into the backyard, where she had gathered a few herbs into a pot, and the only thing that was missing was the fire. Without a word Sano slowly got into work, piled the wood one on top another, and lit a small fire that slowly engulfed the whole pile.

Megumi placed the pot above the flames, gazing into Sano's tired face softly.

"Are you alright, Sanosuke? You seem very tired."

"Well," replied the man, "who wouldn't be tired after chopping wood for an entire hour?"

"No one asked you to do it, chicken head. If I remember correctly, you volunteered to do it yourself."

"I wanted to help."

"Well, there's no helping without sacrificing a thing or two."

Now this intellectual, philosophical and _whimsical _clash between our hero and heroine had become a norm, to them and to the people who happen to overhear their conversations (which included Doctor Gensai and his patient in one room, and Kaoru and Yahiko in another) and it eventually became impossible to picture the two of them together without adding a rather flamed dialogue.

Megumi, instead of being pissed, gave a sort of half-smile, which Sano thought rather attractive, and continued her task in silence.

"Doctor Gensai says you've got surprising potential," Sano said, his low voice rising above the loud crackling of wood under the fire.

"Indeed? That's good to hear," Megumi replied.

"Yeah." Sano almost said that that was good to hear since she wouldn't have to work her tired body for another night in a married man's abode, but he bit his tongue, out of respect to their new-found friendship and to the romantic atmosphere of the night. He just didn't want to ruin it.

"So," he said, "you've loved anyone before?"

Megumi blushed at the out-of-the-blue question, and shrugged. "You could say that. But… you see… I couldn't… _then_."

"'_Then'_," he repeated. "What do you mean?"

Megumi shrugged again, but didn't answer. She stirred the concoction with a wooden spatula, and, as if concluding that it was ready, put water over the fire.

"How about you, Sano? You've loved anyone before?"

Sano coloured, too. "I'm not saying anything until you answer first."

Megumi narrowed her eyes. "You're such a chicken head."

"_Tse, _you got some nerve, _kitsune._"

Their cat-dog (or should I say rooster-fox?) fight was cut short by Doctor Gensai's voice coming from the patient's room nearby.

"Megumi-san, is the concoction ready yet?"

"_Hai, _Doctor."

With a damp cloth, Megumi lifted the pot from the burnt wood, but retracted her hand when she found it still unbearably hot.

"Ow," she said, massaging her inflamed palm.

"What's wrong?" Sano asked, taking her hand in his. He looked it over.

_He seems really concerned, _Megumi thought with a blush. She withdrew her hands quickly, suddenly afraid of the warm ticklish feeling she felt inside her body.

"It's nothing," she lied. She grabbed the pot again, this time forgetting to use the damp cloth, and felt nothing as she ran over to the patient's room in Doctor Gensai's clinic, perhaps because of the blisters that had hardened her palms just then, or perhaps because of the overpowering sensations she had felt when Sano touched her hands or when he inquired about his love. Either way, she was grateful she didn't feel any burning pain, and that he didn't seem to mind her unusual behavior.

* * *


	8. Chapter 8

"**Minutes of Your Time"**

VIII.

_Love. What does that word mean? For once in my life, I thought I felt it when I met a legendary swordsman who gave me a companionship and a name. He saved me from the hands of my evil pursuers, then gave me shelter and care afterwards. He gave me a name – it wasn't my own (for my name is Momo Zubashi) but I embraced it whole-heartedly because it gave me an identity. He gave me the name of Yukishiro Tomoe, a woman he called his wife. _

_When Tomoe died early in their marriage, the man I love was overcome with grief. When he saved me (for heaven's sake I did not know what got into him then) he asked me in vain if I wanted to take the place of his dead wife. 'Want', then, wasn't the right word to say. _

_How could I want to be somebody I was not, someone I don't even know? How could I take the place of a faceless woman he called his wife? Until this moment, it hasn't occurred to me completely why I said yes._

_Perhaps because he possessed a charm of his own, and perhaps because of the romanticism of him saving me. I was afraid of him when he slashed his opponents with his sword, splashing my white kimono with blood in the process. I was shaking while I watched him take down my pursuers with a single flash of his blade, and I was terrified of the look of savagery in his eyes. But I said yes…_

_When all of these was done, he turned to me and said, _

"_What's your name?"_

_I swallowed. "Momo Zubashi," I said._

_He didn't blink. He looked at my white kimono splashed with blood. "Do you want to be called Tomoe?"_

"_Tomoe?" I repeated. "That's a pretty name, sir, but, what for?"_

"_Come with me."_

_His fire-colored hair swayed as he walked away from the carnage he had just created, his slender fingers fiddling with the sheath of his sword. I followed him._

_He didn't answer my question, but I didn't mind. Tomoe was a pretty name, and I was tired of my own._

"_So you're a geiko?" he said._

_Geiko. Rarely do people use that word to address those in that profession._

"_Not quite, sir," I answered. "I am only a maiko."_

_He nodded, but remained silent. Did I fall short of his expectations of me?_

"_Tomoe," he said suddenly. I jerked my head towards him. _

"_I mean you," he said, smiling a little. "Don't you like it?"_

_I tried to change my nervous disposition. "No, sir, it's a very pretty name. I'm… just not used to it… yet."_

_He smiled fully._

"_Tomoe is the name of the woman I called wife. She died just a few days ago."_

_His story was sad, just like mine. I was an aspiring geiko, but the path seemed to be too rough and too rocky for me. I had run away from the okiya I lived in, for they showed me no respect, no dignity, and they trampled on me._

"_I would like to be called Tomoe, sir…"_

_Love. It was something new for me._

* * *

Sano watched Kaoru as she painstakingly lifted her sleeping son from the porch, yet to no avail, as she soon fell back on her ankles in doing so. Sano walked over to the mother and helped her by carrying the sleeping child himself. Kaoru smiled and motioned to the young boy's room, where the taller man took him. Kenji stirred lightly when Sano placed him on his futon, but he was still very sound asleep.

"Sano, thank you for your efforts to help me… especially in taking care of Kenji. You know exactly what I'm going through, and you understand it isn't easy…"

The man smirked. "Do pregnant women always say very sappy things?"

Kaoru laughed, tears escaping from her eyes. Sano placed a hand on her head.

"You're a mother now. You must be strong for your children."

"I know," Kaoru said, wiping her wet cheeks.

* * *

_okiya - geisha residence_


	9. Chapter 9

IX.

Megumi's face shone under the lamp that also lit her studies. Her forehead was sweating, but her hands continued to write under the lamp's light.

"Hey, _kitsune_, aren't you going to sleep yet?"

Sano was on a far corner of the room, and started fanning himself with one of the documents Megumi was writing at. He yawned.

"Put that down!" The woman scolded. She took the paper from his hand and hit him with it. "If you're sleepy, then you must go home. No one told you to stay here anyway."

Sano frowned. "I'm doing you a favor here, _kitsune_, and that's the way I get repaid? What if someone barges in here and tries to kidnap you?"

Megumi laughed, making Sano blush a little bit. "For heaven's sake, Sanosuke, how can someone kidnap me inside my house? Besides, I know of no one who'll dare do that, knowing I have a bastard like you as a friend."

"A friend, huh?" Sano said, smiling.

"Yes, a friend. Any problem with that?"

"No." Sano opened the door of Megumi's room, revealing the small garden outside. A warm breeze rushed in, and Megumi's hair brushed about a little.

"You haven't answered my question," Sano said, as if continuing a past conversation. "Have you been in love before?"

"Why do you want to know? You didn't tell me if you've been in love before, either."

Sano scratched the back of his head. "I don't know why I want to know, either."

Megumi blushed slightly. "What made you think I'd tell you anyway?"

"I just think that you're still human, no matter your profession, and I think every human has the ability to fall in love."

"Ability?" Megumi said. "If it was an ability, then one would be capable of honing it. But, as it seems, loving can never be honed or practiced. It's too faulty, and too risky."

Sano smiled. "So you did fall in love, after all."

"Yes, once, but I'm not sure if I'll let it happen again."

"Why do you speak such harsh words to yourself? You aren't a worthless woman – what made you even think you are!" Sano said loudly.

"Why are you so angry?" Megumi replied rather calmly.

Sano shook his head. "I'd had enough of women falling in love and men taking advantage of it."

Megumi looked rather sincere. "Your friend Kaoru?"

The man did not respond.

Megumi thought, _If more men were like this man here, then women like me wouldn't have to sell our love – that affectation is not even love at all. _

_The reason why I became the woman that I was before, was because I had been abandoned as a child, and left for another as a lover. I thought, if I can make all other men fall in love with me, then make money at the same time, that would be the sweetest revenge I could ever give my ex-lover. But it wasn't like the sugar-coated dream I imagined to be… it was a nightmare._

"Megumi?"

She was surprised that he had called her by her real name.

"You must promise me. You'll never go back to that profession again."

She didn't respond at once. "That's a lot you're asking from me. Considering we only just met."

_How foolish of me. She's right, we just met a few days ago. _Sano closed his eyes and furrowed his brows.

"But I appreciate the effort of wanting to change me, Sanosuke. Men only desire me; not one before you had asked why I chose my profession or if I would ever want to become something else. Thank you."

Sano blushed but he hid his face under the shadow of the lamp that lit the open room. He shifted his feet uncomfortably on the tatami mats, as he let the warm breeze kiss his face lightly.

"Yeah, and I don't regret that I did ask."

Sano sighed. He had a hunch that the next day would be a very long rainy day.

* * *

"Mistress! There is a lady at your door!"

The servant girl Hanabi rushed inside Zubashi Momo's room, with all prudence forgotten, and her mistress discolored at such an act.

"A lady? By what name?"

"A Himura Kaoru, my mistress. She is begging to see you."

Himura. Isn't that_Battousai-san's name?_ Momo-san stood up.

"I will be there in a moment."

Kaoru waited patiently at the bottom of the stairs outside Zubashi Momo's wooden door. It had started to rain about an hour ago, and how she reached Gion at such a warm state, one could only have a guess of.

* * *

The door opened, and a stunning young woman with a very pale face stood before her. Kaoru's reaction was of mixed admiration and envy, for there stood before her the woman who snatched away her husband.

"Momo-san," said Kaoru, "I am Kenshin's wife, and I wish you to give me his whereabouts."

Momo-san did not speak; her painted lips remained close as she eyes the drenching woman who knelt at her feet. The apartment was silent, and the only sound that can be heard was that of the pouring rain – which was like an ode to Kaoru.

"Momo-san, at this point in time, I know we are rivals, and I shouldn't be asking you this favor, but please, for the sake of love, tell me where my husband is!"

The loving wife's voice pierced the geiko's heart with such an immense impact, and the younger woman could only feel compassion for this abandoned spouse. The geiko's eyes flickered for a moment, and then finally, the woman spoke.

"_Onna-san,_" said she, "I wish to help you, in some way or another, but I cannot tell you where your husband is."

Kaoru's tears rushed down her cheeks. "Why are you doing this! I am his wife! I need to know where he is!"

Momo-san passed a look at Kaoru's belly, which bulged under her faded kimono. The geiko passed a look at her _own _middle, which, she knew, will never contain the life that was in Kaoru's, unless, for some miracle, she chose to abandon her profession.

"I cannot tell you, because I don't know where he is."

Kaoru let out a cry in disbelief. "You liar! Everyone knows he frequents at your house yet you deny knowing his whereabouts! You lying geisha!"

"Don't badmouth my profession, lady. I have showed you enough compassion. If I knew_Battousai-san's _whereabouts I would have told you now. It is enough to see a woman kneel at my doorstep under the pouring rain."

"Don't call him that!" Kaoru cried, her body shaking in anger and frustration at the obstinacy and selfishness of the lady before her. "He has long abandoned that name! He is Kenshin! Kenshin, do you hear? My husband!"

Momo-san put down her gaze. "Your impatience will not take you anywhere, Kaoru-san. If your husband is ready to see you, he _will _come back home."

The geiko closed the door lightly.

"If I happen to discover where he is, I promise to tell you. _Sayonara. Matte yo."_

* * *


	10. Chapter 10

_**"Minutes of Your Time"**_

* * *

X.

"_Why do you have to kill all these people?"_

_It was the question she had always been afraid to ask. She was the wife (or at least, the 'acting' wife, for the moment temporary), the companion, who was content to accompany him in silence. Not only had she taken Tomoe's place, she had taken her nature._

_When Kenshin (or Battousai, which would be more proper) came home wet, dripping with blood, her task was to approach him with a towel and wipe all the blood and carcass that stuck on his clothes and skin, tend to his wounds and scratches, and lay down for him a bed to lie upon. She was a slave, a maid to her pretentious lover, but she didn't mind all the murmurs that followed her every time she came into town._

_Momo, or Tomoe to Battousai, spent her days trying to improve her dance in secret (she was afraid that when Battousai finds out, he might send her out of his house), and her nights waiting and sometimes drifting off to sleep anticipating her husband's return. She pulled her thoughts away from ever going back to her okiya in Gion, but she couldn't keep her heart away from dance, her first love._

"_Tomoe," Battousai called, sliding the door of their small house open. His clothes were bloody as usual, but a little more bloody than the previous nights. He was limping, his right hand clutching at the sheath of his sword._

_Upon seeing him in this ugly state, Momo at once stood up from her place beside the fire and led him into his room, where she cleansed his wounds and handed him a new set of clothes. He didn't seem very much hurt, she thought, apart from the cut on his leg. All the blood then, must have come from his opponents._

_She worked quietly, as usual, but she had been with the swordsmaster for almost three months now, and the slightest betrayal of her gestures did not escape his keen eyes._

"_You're distracted," he pointed out, quite something surprising for Momo, who was so used to his silence during this time of the night. "Is something bothering you?"_

_The smell of blood made her suddenly dizzy, as she rinsed his clothes on a tub she placed beside his bed. She ought to have been so used to this by now, but something about the day had kept her uneasy all throughout._

_Yes, it was the day she was officially admitted as a maiko in the Zubashi okiya in Gion. _

_She wanted to not tell Kenshin of this matter, but his eyes told her there was no way to lie. And so she told him._

"_Ah," he said quietly. He turned his head away slightly. "Forgive me for taking you away from your home for so long."_

_She smiled. "No, Battousai-san. It was an honorable choice you gave me…"_

_His voice became quieter still. "I wonder what I can do for you…"_

_He didn't really mean it to be an offer to a favor; he didn't even intend for her to hear it. But his tongue slipped, and his words betrayed his seemingly cold nature._

_Momo's eyes flickered and her face brightened. Kenshin never saw something more beautiful. Her face reminded him of the full moon, not only because the first night that they innocently spent together as a pretentious couple was on a full moon, but because of the pale complexion of her face, a trait that was considered very beautiful during those days._

"_Will you see me dance, Battousai-san?"_

_Dance? Did she mean a dance she usually performed in teahouses back in Gion? _

_Yes, she did mean that. She had dreamed of this moment, when she can finally dance for the one man she has loved (yes, Momo indeed loved Kenshin), and she wished with all her heart he would oblige. No, she did not want any other romantic gesture from him, not even a night asleep together, but she only wanted him to see her dance, which was the best thing she could ever offer him, apart from her silence and love._

"_O-of course," came his reply._

_And so Momo got out her linens and wooden fans, and danced until the moon's light faded at dusk. Kenshin watched, stunned by her every action, which seemed to him never rehearsed but very spontaneous. Her gestures were short but very regal, like he had seen a goddess dance before his very eyes. She swayed to the rhythm of the crackling fire and brushing leaves outside his house, and her eyes and face told a story that flowed with melody and love. She was a song all on her own, and she called this dance – the dance of the moonlight._

_Yes, the dance of the moonlight. He will never forget that._

"Megumi?" Sano called. "Are you possibly alright?"

Megumi was still sound asleep inside her room in the small inn she rented, and her lamp was still burning by her desk. She had fallen asleep on her desk, atop the paperwork and the needles and knives for surgery that she had brought out the previous night.

Sano slid the door of her room non-maliciously, genuinely concerned for her present predicament. When he saw her asleep on her desk, he smiled and sighed, relieved that something did not happen to her when he left her before dusk that evening. He pushed her body upright and carried her in his arms, before laying her on her futon in one corner of the room. He put out the lamp that was still burning on top of her desk.

"I hope you will be able to have a good morning," he muttered. "I sure have."

Megumi stirred a bit, and pulled the covers to her face, before falling back into deep innocent slumber.

* * *


	11. Chapter 11

**_"Minutes of Your Time"_**

* * *

XI.

The day was gloomy, though it wasn't raining outside. Kaoru was inside her room at the Kamiya Dojo, not feeling so much better than she was when she came home from a failed attempt to find Kenshin at Zubashi Momo's house. Kenji sat at his mother's feet, looking on, completely unaware of the woman's agony.

Sano and Megumi were outside, talking in hushed voices, in order not to awaken their friend.

"When will Kaoru become better?" Sano asked.

Megumi shook her head. "The ill feeling brought about by the pregnancy will easily pass, but I believe that much of pain is self-inflicted. She's in a kind of trance, that of betrayal, and if she does not snap out of it, she won't be getting any better."

Sano frowned, in disbelief, at Megumi's blunt words which were devoid of sympathy. "But isn't that bad for the baby?"

"Yes, it is. Very risky, truthfully."

Sano wanted to ask why she was too apathetic to the situation of Kaoru, considering she was a woman herself, and that they at least shared an experience of being abandoned by a lover. But he kept the thoughts to himself.

Megumi may have read his mind. "Perhaps, Sanosuke, you are thinking: why am I severe to my own species? I am a woman, I have been betrayed by a man before, and in that sense Kaoru and I have that in common."

Sano's shoulders went up involuntarily. "H-How did you know I was thinking that?"

Megumi smiled sadly. "I've been wondering that myself."

"It displeases me to see a woman not battling, not struggling, in order to live a life that she herself had once dreamed of," Megumi went on. "I see myself in Kaoru now, and it is despicable, remembering how I behaved when that bastard of a man left many years past. I want to shake her out her shell of self-pity, of self-inflicted suffering, but only a woman like me would know that it would be to no avail. We are all in control of ourselves, and though there may be some external forces which affect the way be act, the final decision and action lies in our hands. I may cure Kaoru of her physical illness, I may even help her deliver her child, but if she does not stop moping around, waiting pathetically for her husband to return, she may eventually become incurable."

Sano took in the wisdom of every word the woman beside him had uttered – those were the words of someone who had gone through a lot in life, a woman who was more experienced than him when it comes to matters of deep contemplation. He started to blush, and he turned his head away. He was half humiliated, half romanticized, and it was an emotion no fighter-for-hire would ever dare show.

"I know what you mean, and I understand your reasoning," Sano answered. "But I do feel really sorry for Kaoru, not just because she is my friend, but because as a woman she has suffered a lot. I can't help but feel hatred for this Momo girl, and deep reproof for Kenshin. Those two – that Momo and that Kenshin! – they do not think of the consequences of their acts!"

Megumi smiled sadly again. "Don't you think it is unfair, Sanosuke? That you despise Momo even without knowing her and her side to the story?"

"What side of her story? She can easily turn the story around!"

"I certainly knew many women like this Zubashi Momo, and I knew them personally. I have heard their stories and lamentations from their own mouths, and saw the tears flowing from their very own eyes. We – Momo, Kaoru and I – are all women who suffered and continue to suffer the ill fate of falling in love with men who failed to reciprocate our affection.

You told me it was not in the likeness of your friend Kenshin to keep a mistress, knowing how much he loved his family. Therefore it wouldn't be possible for he and Momo to keep an affair. But by my intuition I strongly believe that this Zubashi Momo is sincerely in love with Kenshin, and is suffering in silence the fate that she could not love anyone openly, and that she can never be loved wholly."

Megumi ended her speech in such a sad tone that Sanosuke lost all the zest in continuing the conversation. They stayed in each other's company in silence, until they heard moaning from Kaoru's room. Kenji burst out crying.

The two of them – Sano and Megumi – rushed at once inside Kaoru's room and found her weeping, her arms around her little child, blood staining the futon underneath her. Megumi's eyes narrowed.

"Call for Doctor Gensai immediately."

* * *

"When was the last time you visited me, Battousai-san?" the geiko muttered soothingly. "A few weeks ago?"

"I had been doing a lot of thinking," the man she addressed as Battousai answered in the same hushed tone.

The geiko let out a laugh. "So there you were thinking, here I was living my legend in silence, while the rest of Kyoto was fed up with the idea that we were having an affair."

The man smiled, but said nothing.

"I'm very sorry that our acquaintance has brought evil into your name, Battousai-san."

"You're mistaken, Momo. That name has always had evil trailing along behind it, along with the men I killed. And please, call me Kenshin."

Momo bowed deeply and whispered a very soft _Sumimasen_. She bowed for a very long time.

"That kimono you are wearing," Kenshin pointed out. "It is very pretty. It suits you perfectly."

Momo straightened her torso and looked up at him teary-eyed. "It is the kimono you gave me on the day that we parted, Battousai-sama."

Kenshin looked rather sad, and said, "I thought it looked familiar. I never imagined you kept it, after so many years."

Momo chuckled, the gesture making the tears roll down from her eyes. "You think that because I had become an accomplished geiko, with so many rich admirers who buy me expensive kimono all the time, I'd throw away the most important wardrobe that I ever had in my life?"

Battousai's hands betrayed him by touching Momo's face and wiping her tears. Momo grabbed his wrists and pulled his hands away from her face.

"I've always loved you, Battousai-san. But you must leave."

"I won't lie and tell you that I didn't love you once…"

"Then that would be enough for me…"

Momo pulled out a comb that was lined with real magnolia blossoms, a signature hair accessory which she was known for. She always wore white, looking like a bride, in her white kimono with purple blossoms that run up from the hem to the area below her knees. Kenshin watched as she ceremoniously put her hair in a bun on top of her head with the comb, a gift he had given himself. When she was done, she bowed to him and started at the steps of the stairs to her house.

Kenshin grabbed her wrist instinctively.

"Battousai-sama!" she exclaimed, bewildered.

"I don't want you back in that profession. You shall only suffer longer, when you truly deserve to love freely, like you were a free woman."

"I have already loved freely, Battousai-sama," she answered, "and I said that was enough for me."

Kenshin frowned. "What do you mean 'enough'? Don't condemn yourself so!"

"Sir, I love someone who has been very kind to me, and now that he is married and with children, I can only be too happy for him!"

"I didn't mean me, Momo," Kenshin said. "You must free yourself from your own prison. Find someone else to love!"

Momo was silent, as if to tell that she didn't want to love someone else. She kept her gaze down. The tension of the moment made them both breathe quite heavily, until Kenshin decided to break the awkwardness.

"What are you doing?! Battousai-sama!" Momo cried, with a little yelp of pain.

Kenshin had brought out his sword and made a cut on Momo's forearm. When blood has flowed, he let go of her hand and drew back his sword.

Momo was in panic. "What have you done, Battousai-sama?!" She wrapped the pocket sleeves of her kimono around her forearm to stop the bleeding. The blood has dripped on the purple blossoms at the hem of her kimono.

"I did you a favor," Kenshin replied.

"What favor?!"

"You once said that the geiko consider their forearm as the prettiest part of their body. If the mistress of the teahouse you are managed at will see that cut, she will be displeased and will ask you to take a rest from being a geiko for a while. That cut is very shallow and will heal in a short period of time, but it will give you time to contemplate on the words spoken today, Momo."

Momo still looked at him with bemused eyes, but he knew well that she understood. He turned to leave.

"I'm sorry to have ruined such a beautiful kimono."

Momo watched him walk away, standing motionless at the bottom of the stairs of her house. Her forearm had stopped bleeding, and it had started feeling numb. The comb that was on her hair slipped off suddenly, and the noise it made as it hit the wooden floor alerted her servant Hanabi, who came to her mistress immediately.

"Mistress, you're bleeding! What did Battousai-san do to you?"

Momo's face was drained of color, but she spoke with such neutral tone.

"Run to the mistress of my teahouse at once, Hanabi. Tell her I'll be leaving for a while."

"Yes, mistress."

* * *


	12. Chapter 12

XII.

_**"Minutes of Your Time"**_

The news that Zubashi Momo had run away from her okiya brought disgrace to the geisha district of Gion, shocking as it is that its most renowned geisha had left without further warning.

Seijiro Hiko left town at once (he was picking up a new crate of sake when he heard the news) and returned to his cabin, despite himself, to check if his foolish student had caused such turbulent commotion. To his relief he found him fetching water at the back of the small hut, and to whom he spoke indifferently,

"For the first time in many years, you have not given me dismay by not running away with your geiko friend."

Kenshin did not respond but on his face was a sad expression, devoid of the fierceness of his former self. Looking at him, Seijiro Hiko thought, who would have known he was the slayer who killed an impossible number of people in Edo's bloodbath? _Such a sissy boy, this Kenshin is. Had Battousai been in a separate body, he would have been disgusted._

There is only one woman in Kenshin Himura's life, and that is his wife Kaoru Kamiya. Any other woman belonged to the legendary swordsman they called Battousai – and Tomoe, yes, the real Yukishiro Tomoe, and Momo Zubashi were such.

If it would be said that Momo should have Kenshin because she came into his life even before Kaoru did, it would be foolish reasoning, since, as mentioned earlier, Momo and Kaoru belonged to different men. The geiko was in love with the severe and obstinate Battousai Himura, master of the Battou technique, while Kaoru was the wife of the compassionate wanderer Kenshin Himura. Kaoru said it herself, Battousai ceased to exist.

Would it be therefore justifiable to say that Momo's affection for the hitokiri samurai was lost, too? No it would not. Momo continued to love his memory, even if he ceased to exist.

These thoughts filled Megumi's mind with such anxiety, that she could not keep from drifting in and out of trances everytime she was idle. _She is a lot like me, this Zubashi, but so is Kaoru. One has lost love, the other was betrayed by it, and the only difference is that I experienced both._

Then into her thoughts drifted the image of an unexpected friend Sanosuke Sagara, who had helped her in so many ways he didn't even notice. She wondered whether he felt enough for him to be called love, but perhaps it was yet too early for her to give herself another chance at that field.

She wondered whether one day will come when he will confess his mutual affection for her, or one day when he will leave, just like all the other men she has worked for. No, she didn't want to know now; she preferred to face the problem when the time has come.

Megumi knocked on the door of Kaoru Kamiya's room, and slid it open when the latter gave her the cue. She saw the lady sitting upright on her futon, the bed sheet reaching up to her belly, and her body turned towards the open window.

"Well, you are definitely lucky, Kaoru, you and your baby survived that breakdown," Megumi said soothingly. She placed a tray of food on Kaoru's lap. "Eat. You need to get stronger."

Kaoru smiled gratefully, and began eating in silence, much to the doctor's delight, that her patient isn't being stubborn like she was the past few days.

"So will my baby be just fine?" Kaoru whispered.

"Yes, as long as you take care of yourself," Megumi replied. She deemed her response to blunt and apathetic, but Kaoru didn't seem to mind.

"How are you and Sano doing?" the latter said with a knowing smile. "I heard you're getting along well."

Megumi blushed a little, and told her she was mistaken by assuming that she and Sano had any sort of romantic relationship. She said they were merely friends, and that they argue a lot more than they look at each other.

"Maybe, Megumi," Kaoru said. "But why don't you give Sano a chance? I've known him for quite a while now, and he is a really good person. He was helped me and Kenshin and even Doctor Gensai and Yahiko, and he has helped you. He deserves something more than your arguments."

Megumi didn't know how to react to such blunt encouragement of affection, so she kept her lips pursed in silence. Megumi wasn't sure of how she definitely felt for Sanosuke. Kaoru smiled.

"I thought so, you like him. Give both yourselves a chance, Megumi. Sano deserves a chance for love, too. You'll make a good couple."

Megumi finally threaded the right words to say. "You mean well, Kaoru, but I don't suppose I'm at all ready to take my relationship – whatever you call that – to that level, considering that he knows about how I previously led my life. It's degrading; I like Sanosuke, I want him to be there for me often, but it seems unfair for me to take what he offers me, when I've already lost all that I can give to him."

Kaoru understood perfectly, but she was completely against the idea. "Now why would you say that, Megumi? Everyone deserves a chance to be loved, and give love. Love chooses no one."

Why these words came from Kaoru, who was the last person Megumi expected them from, knowing she has been brutally hurt by this love, Megumi could only guess. Kaoru continued her speech.

"You already admitted that you like him, and I know Sanosuke enough to realize he likes you, too. This doesn't happen all too often, Megumi, that love shall come to you at the same time it came to Sano. What else can you call it but fate?"

Megumi smiled sadly. "I… I don't believe in fate."

Kaoru's eyes filled with compassion, and she was hesitant to ask why. Megumi's answer was cold and severe.

"Fate, yes, that invisible hand that is said to weave people's destinies together, it has failed me a lot of times. I guess it doesn't come to all people. In the past, I was a young girl with many dreams of love and romance, but all I got was bitterness. Had fate really existed, I would never have become… a "husband-stealer"."

Kaoru was sorry that she had asked at all, but she insisted, with all her heart, that Megumi and Sano were fated for each other and that the former must give the man a chance to at least realize this. But the mother felt another fit of contractions, and she wasn't able to say anything more on the subject.

When Kaoru was finally asleep, Megumi slipped out of her room, and was met by Sanosuke at the front door of the Dojo.

"You ready to go home?" he asked, pretentiously nonchalant.

Megumi was shocked, apparently, not expecting him to be there at that moment. "Sano!" she exclaimed. "I thought you were supposed to be at Akebeko's?"

Sano shrugged his shoulders and started walking. "You don't suppose I'll let you go home alone?"

Megumi smiled and walked after him, taking the lead and letting Sano contemplate the rhythm of her shadows.

"You know, Kaoru and I were just talking about you," the woman said.

Sano blushed. "What?! How can you women talk about me behind my back?"

Megumi laughed. "It wasn't anything serious, Sanosuke. I'm not ashamed to admit we were talking about you – yes, Sanosuke, you – and me."

"W-What do you need to talk about us?!"

"Kaoru had some, apparently, mistaken presumptions about our friendship, and I was kind enough to clear up misguided accusations. Yes, that's about it."

Sano's jaw hardened. "I hope Kaoru's not presuming things she ought not think about at all."

"What exactly do you mean, Sanosuke?"

The color on the man's cheeks returned rather promptly. "Well, I… I mean, I hope she does not assume we share something rather not innocent… you know…"

Megumi's face coloured a brilliant shade of magenta, and she slapped a hand at Sano's shoulder.

"Ow!" Sano cried. "You don't need to do that!"

"What made you say she thinks that way?! I'm not doing things that project that certain kind of image with you! I've changed, just as you wished me to!"

She slapped him at the shoulder again. Sano held up his hands in defense.

"Stop that, will you! I believe you!"

Megumi stopped at once. Sano blushed.

"I… I-I believe you," he repeated. "That you've changed. You've changed a lot, and I'm.. I'm proud of that."

Megumi mocked sarcasm. "You know, Sanosuke, I have the feeling that you're starting to like, but of course, that can't be possible. How can a fighter-for-hire fall for a husband-stealer like me?"

Sano frowned. "Stop calling yourself that. You're a doctor now, remember, and a much better person. I like you like that and –" Sano blushed.

"So you do like me, huh?"

"No! I mean, that's not what I meant by that!"

"Ah, so you don't like me."

"NO! T-That's not the point –"

Megumi was sly and cunning, and the more she spoke, the more Sano reddened, and the more he wanted to melt to the ground.

"Just admit it. You like me."

She wasn't quite prepared for an answer, for she meant this as a joke. But when he spoke, she stopped in her tracks, her feet unable to move.

"Yes, okay, I do like you after all."

A wind blew by and planted a kiss on her face. She ran her fingers through her hair with a smile and said, "Alright.

It's settled then."

_You can't buy minutes of my time, when they're already yours._


End file.
